Possible Precom Issue?

[vonBennett]

Okay, I finished up my Vault 88 Settlement Mod and I did Precom/PreVis in the Creation Kit following that I made an Archive of the selected files (script, Vis and PreCom Meshes). I loaded up the game and everything runs and looks great (no more blurry screens). There is just one annoying problem, all (except two) of the static high poly magazines have changed to Awesome Tales vol 1 (which I assume is the default). None of these magazines in my static collections were affected, no pictures, posters, or other similar static items were affected. If I create a new high poly magazine in the Creation Kit, it is normal in the game. If I delete one of the changed high poly magazines in the Creation Kit, it still shows up in the game. The only thing I can think of is that these high poly static magazines were included in the PreCom process (hence the deleted magazine still appears in the game) and that is why the changed to the default Awesome Tales vol 1. I am not sure why two of the magazines did not change....assume that the kit omitted these for a good reason?

 

My question is, is there a way to some how tag the high poly magazines in the Creation Kit, re-do the PreCom/PreVis process and not have this change occur?

 

Thank you,

B...

[niston]

Take a look at Step 17 from https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/articles/1023?BH=0

 

 

Menu: View/Layers new PREFIX_DisableForPrecombineLayer (thanks to RedRocketTV for this)
Make that layer active, lock all other layers.
Right click add any base game stuff that needs to be excluded from precombine so it works (but is not scrappable) on that layer.

 

HTH

[vonBennett]

Thank you Niston,

 

I tried doing that but it seems it didn't work. I was able to create that layer (PREFIX_DisableForPreCombineLayer) and I added some high poly magazines to that layer (which I could see was adding them to it). I removed the old precombined meshes, vis folder and archive folder from my Data Folder, opened the Creation Kit and re-did precombined, vis and archive. The high poly magazines that I had added to the additional layer still changed to the default Awesome Tales vol 1 like they had previously.

 

I did however, find a way around most of the issue. I just created more static collections. Since most of the high poly magazines were on night stands and tables, I just combined everything to avoid the conflict (created 30 additional static collections). The remaining high poly magazines that I want will be added individually after I do my final precombined and previs. Adding 20-25 high poly magazines in this fashion shouldn't effect previs/precomb's ability to function.

 

Thanks again for your help. I will continue to tinker with this issue and try and see if I can make your solution work for me.

 

B....

[MissingMeshTV]

The high ploy mags revert to Astoundingly Awesome Tales after generation because most of them (maybe all, not sure off hand) have their covers changed through a custom material swap applied at the base item level in the Model window of the magazine. Material swaps applied in this manner break during the generation of precombined meshes and revert to the default material that is defined in the Model window. This is generally the material that is defined within .nif file itself.

 

Many of those high poly mags have the same Astoundingly Awesome Tales as the default cover and will revert to it if you generate precombines. Other items I’ve come across that have material swaps applied in this manner are the dirty version of the round café table and chair (defaults are the clean versions) and some of the metal Vault crates (default is the plain silver version). All of their custom material swaps will break during precombine gen and revert to the default. “Proper” material swaps created as new forms under the Misc object section and applied to specific refs under the Extras tab of the reference window will not break.

 

Adding these magazines to their own layer is a step in the right direction, but not the full monty. Simply putting items on a new layer and hiding the layer does NOT prevent them from being added to a precombine. Hiding the layer is only a visual response within the CK render window. Items on the hidden layer are still present in the cell and will be included in generation and rendered in-game.

 

One way to exclude them from being assimilated into a precombine is to set them to Initially Disabled prior to generation, generate precombines/previs, then remove the Initially Disabled flag to re-enable them when generation is complete. Putting these items on their own layer makes this MUCH easier and faster when combined with using the batch action window. Layers also cuts down on the chance that you’ll nudge or otherwise disturb things you’ve just generated precombines for and break them. I’ve made a video of the layers process I use that might help,

 

Static items that have scrapping recipes will also be excluded from generation AFAIK, but I don’t generally work with the settlement/scrapping stuff so I’ve never done anything in that regard to offer any advice there.

Edited November 8, 2019 by RedRocketTV

[vonBennett]

Thank you RedRocketTV for that very informative information. Setting those items in a seperate layer and then set to 'initially disabled' seems to be the best solution to this issue. Like I said, I included most high poly magazines in static collections (which keeps the desired magazine covers) but was going to add a few loose high poly magazines in the Creation Kit after I completed my final PrevIs/Precomb; I will read up on and watch your video for your much better plan of action.

 

Thanks again!

 

B...

 

 

Opps...not sure why but your link to your video takes me to a home improvement page?

Edited November 8, 2019 by vonBennett

[MissingMeshTV]

Opps...not sure why but your link to your video takes me to a home improvement page?

 

Ah, Nexus. Try it now. Should go to the correct place.

[vonBennett]

Thanks again RedRocketTV :nuke:

Edited November 8, 2019 by vonBennett

[vonBennett]

 

Opps...not sure why but your link to your video takes me to a home improvement page?

 

Ah, Nexus. Try it now. Should go to the correct place.

 

It works now. Thank you very much!!!

[vonBennett]

Awesome video RedRocketTV!!!!

 

 

So...let's say I finished my vault mod, I did the final ProCom/PreVis, then I went back and with layers, I create a new layer for the high poly magazines, I freeze all other layers and then make the new layer the only active one. I add all of the magazines and when done, I save in exit.

 

Now...sometime in the future I make significant changes to the mod and afterwards, I have to re-do PreCom/PreVis. Prior to running PreCom/PreVis, I go into layers and 'freeze' the layer I created for the high poly magazines and only that layer so it will prevent the high poly magazines from going through the PreCom/PreVis process?

[MissingMeshTV]

Like I said earlier, you'll need to set those magazines to Initially Disabled, do your precombines, then set the mags back to being enabled. Just freezing the layer isn't enough to prevent them from being dumped into precombines.